to admit i'm wrong. but i don't think i'm wrong. this is not a liberal group, it is a right-wing group, you're trying to look like liberals and we can tell. that does it for us, we'll see you monday night. "weekends with alex witt" starts now. a hint today of what president obama's first priority will be during his second term. a new surge on wall street. does it signal the country's economic troubles are in the past? the deep freeze turns dangerous. no relief this weekend in some parts of the country. new rules on the battlefield. one woman in the military talks to me about what it means to her. she's been in tough fights before. good morning, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex wi witt." new this morning, the president outlining a series of priorities in his weekly address, aimed at building a stronger middle class. >> it means encouraging businesses to create more jobs and improve education and job

training to get skills businesses are looking for. reforming our immigration system and keeping our children safe from the menace of gun violence. and it means bringing down our deficit in a balanced way by making necessary reforms and asking every american to pay their fair share. i'm honored and humbled to continue to serve as your president, and i'm more hopeful than ever that four years from now with your help, this country will be prosperous, more open and more committed to the principles on which we were founded. >> meanwhile, republican governor bob mcdonnell of virginia opposes a gop ideas to replace the state's winner take all method of allocating presidential votes with one that awards votes based on congressional districts. under such a system, president obama would have lost the system to mitt romney, despite winning the popular vote. joining me now, ed o'keefe and amy parmes. >> good morning, alex.

>> we heard the president lust a few things he wants to get in the second term. is there time for all of this? what has the most realistic chance to get this accomplished? >> he has a year, year and a half before lame duck status sets in. he has a reasonable chance of getting stuff done. immigration, republicans eager to get that done based on what happened to them in the last election. gun control. more republicans backing things like background checks, they stand a good chance of getting stuff done in the next year, while the president has the leverage on his side. >> okay. let's look at another couple of challenges for you, ed. sequestration, that starts march 1st. debt ceiling suspension expiring on may 19th. you think the president's policy goals will get bogged down because of these upcoming deadlines? >> that's an interesting question. we are trying to sort that one out. this punt into may, with the debt ceiling suggests that it

buys everyone time on fiscal issues and might allow congress to turn its attention to immigration and gun control and other issues. certainly, the fiscal debate isn't going anywhere. a big question, will sequestration indeed happen if it does happen, does it happen assith currently written, do we make changes or the white house come up with a way to stave it off and get republicans and democrats to agree? a big push under way to get started on gun control, immigration, hearings next week to start the gun control debate. efforts under way by the end of next week, we might have a bipartisan framework for immigration reform proposals that would bring democrats and republicans together in the senate and get the balling rolling on something besides fiscal policy. a lot of people on washington would love to see. after so many months of talking about money. >> talk about appointment tv, amie. we had the president and hillary

clinton sitting down for their first television interview. >> i think hillary will go down as one of the finest secretary of states we've had. a great collaboration over the past four years. >> a few years ago we would have been seen as imimprobable, because we had that long, hard primary campaign. in politics and democracies, sometimes you win elections, and sometimes you lose elections. i worked very hard, but i lost and president obama asked me to be secretary of state. said yes. why? because we both love our country. >> this interview will air on sunday. the fact that they did this joint interview, surprising to you? did you read anything into it? >> they have certainly come a long way from unity. standing there with clenched smiles. but what you saw there, they both have gone past it, principles on both sides, they like each other, trust each other. not best friends, but i think the president wanted to do something nice for her, the most

traveled secretary of state, done a lot for him this is his way of giving her a big nod. >> in addition, do you think the president thinks he owes the clinton politically? >> no doubt he owes them for certain things. for him coming along during the first administration, his work during the re-election campaign. they can take credit for helping him along. whether he owes them remains to be seen. he said he will remain neutral of joe biden and outgoing secretary of state face each other in 2016. it will be a little awkward if he has to sit on his hands, watch that happen. >> i want to ask you about the u.s. court of appeals of the d.c. circuit, ruling that the appointments to the labor panel are unconstitutional. is this a particular conservative makeup of this court? >> they have some conservative justices and some of the current

supreme court justices came from this court. ultimately this is an issue that will go before the supreme court. as your own pete williams reported, and as we reported at the post, there are various courts across the country challenging recess appointments made a little more than a year ago, and, you know, it's inevitable that this is something that will be taken to the supreme court. the white house very deftly pointed out that george bush did this, bill clinton did this hundreds of these recess appointments in the past and a supreme court decision would ultimately settle this. >> this president made 32 recess appointments, george bush, 171, bill clinton, 139. do you see this as a setback for president obama? >> the white house doesn't seem particularly worried about it. they'll let the process ride it out and see what other cases -- what other courts do with similar cases and seek supreme court review. but i think you saw white house

press secretary jay carney say this is unprecedented. don't really agree with this. other presidents have done this. they'll take the stance going forward. >> okay. amie parnes, ed o'keefe. thank you. and reince priebus was reeekted as head of the rnrnc. >> we must compete in every state, in every region, building relationships with community we haven't before. at the rnc, we are dropping the red and blue state analysis. we must be a party concerned about every american in every neighborhood. >> mitt romney in washington, d.c. this weekend. he and his wife, ann, honored by the marriott corporation on saturday. his staff did not allow media after that event. he rejoined marriott's board of directors after the election.

and tonight he will attend the alfalfa club dinner. president obama will visit las vegas on tuesday, the second trip of his new term. frigid weather, when and where will it warm up? dylan dreyer here with the forecast. >> good morning, alex. it will still be cold in the northeast, but not as cold as it has been, we'll see improvementory the next couple of weeks. in fact, a big warmup by the end of the coming week. teens through the northern plains. 19 in minneapolis, 23 in chicago. cold air setting the stage for the next storm system moving into the area. hardly even see it on the radar right now. lake effect snow across michigan and western pennsylvania and new york. a lot of rain in the southwest that will stay all rain. that will fuel the next system. so winter storm advisories,

winter ice warnings, already posted across southern wisconsin, northern illinois. in the chicago area. we could end up with about a quarter inch of ice as we go into sunday, and into sunday night. just north of that, though, we should see about 6 to 12 inches of snow in northeastern iowa and wisconsin as well. today, things fairly quiet except for the southwest, where we'll see a lot of rain. on sunday, looking for icy conditions across minneapolis and chicago. all through the morning. it should change over to rain by the time we go to sunday night. alex. >> okay. thank you so much for that. let's go to the economy, more signs it's on the upswing. u.s. stock markets approaching record highs, the dow on track for its best january performance since 1989. the s & p closing above 1,500 for the first time in five years. nasdaq also closing higher. but there could be pitfalls to

the good news. >> the stock market winning streak marked its fourth straight week and this week, encouraging signs on jobs and higher home prices, the government reported homes of new sales shot up in 2012. home sales up almost 14%. diana covers real estate for cnbc. >> home building definitely improved in 2012. nowhere near we need it to be. running at half the housing starts we would be in a normal year. only . >> any improvement is good news for this custom home building outside of columbus, ohio. they haven't been this busy since the housing bubble burst in 2006. >> we're very excited. last year was good, expecting this year to be great. >> reporter: the dow has finished each yoear higher than

it began. it is poised to set a new record high since 2006. encouraging for american who's have an estimated 6.5 trillion of their retirement savings tied up in stocks. analysts say the rally began after washington policy makers avoided the fiscal can cliff. and investors chase higher stock prices. >> hey, wait a minute, the market is getting better. maybe the economy is getting better. the train is leaving the station. i better not let it leave without me. >> reporter: the economy about to gain momentum? still potential pitfalls, rising mortgage rates and titghtened markets could damage housing, but some analysts say the stage is set. >> we've made a lot of adjustments and the economy has breathing space to really improve. >> john yang reporting. a mystery that came up during secretary of state

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clinton's new glasses is solved. you probably noticed them at the inauguration and the benghazi hearing. during the five hours of testimony, some photographers noticed the left lens was thick with lines across it. turns out, it's a special lens used to prevent double vision. clinton's spokesman says she'll be wearing them for a while due to a lingering issue from her concussi concussion. she fell at home last month after being weakened by a stomach virus. black ice causing hundreds of wrecks across several states. the weather will soon make a

dramatic change many let's go to weather channel meteorologist mike seidel live in beautiful knoxville, tennessee. although it's still dark there. good morning, mike. where will the worst of the be today? >> reporter: good morning, alex. not here. in fact, let me recap, here, temperatures above freezing. ice yesterday. today, in the 40s. all those areas, parts of kentucky, tennessee, north georgia, the carolinas, that had the ice storm yesterday, highs in the 40s today. roads will improve dramatically. in fact, here all the ice has melted. let me take you back yesterday and get to the forecast. north georgia mountains, atlanta was fine, this is raven county, and skidding out and slipping off the icy roadways on those higher elevations in north georgia, in upstate carolina, we had one fatality, we head to the snow. north of the ice, snow across ohio, into the virginias and mid-atlantic toward new york, near roanoke, virginia, snow last friday and more snow today.

most in the one to two inch category. not a big system. not a lot of moisture to work with, and we had snow and spinouts in western pennsylvania, allegheny county in the pittsburgh area and enough snow to cause issue there. by the way, alex, in chicago. finally got their first inch of snow and ends the record streak of 335 days and now they are up to a whopping 2.8 for the season. how about that? chicago missed out on the snow. haven't missed out on the cold. another storm brewing for tomorrow. winter storm watches and freezing rain advisories for parts of seven midwestern states, including chicago, des moines, and the quad cities. we'll be following that and may be talking to you from another location tomorrow morning. >> we look forward to that. i got to tell you, driving, hit the nail on the head. nasty on those roads, even in the new york area last night, i guess you know the official

numbers, maybe an inch of snow. it's precarious. any types for folks that go out on the roads before the snow plows or salt guys can get there and do their magic? >> you have to give yourself some extra braking distance. the roads are slippery. snow is much easier to drive in than ice. ice, forget it if you don't have a zamboni on the road, don't go out on the ice. a lot of people ended up in ditches, fire trucks and the best bet is extra braking. and the official total in central park, 1.5 inches, alex. but not melting because it's so cold, it will warm up this week in new york city, so watch your -- watch above, from the skyscrapers, may be ice and snow coming off the skyscrapers as temperatures climb above 40 degrees by tuesday. >> good advice, as always. appreciate that. a little later on this morning, thousands, including

newtown residents will gather on the national mall in washington to rally for stricter gun laws, kristen welker with more. good saturday morning to you. >> good morning, alex. in fact, as many as 5,000 people are expected to march on the mall today for new gun control, and despite the groundswell of public support, this is still one of the most divisive issues in the nation. vice president joe biden made a public push, made a roundtable discussion in the particularly gun friendly area of richmond, virginia. >> we talked about the need to expand mental health capacity across the country. about access, and we talked about resources. >> reporter: and in an effort to sway legislators through public pressure, organizing for action, obama's relaunched campaign arm,

is sending out e-mails to supporters, writing tell your members of congress that you want to see decisive action on this issue in in addition to actions focused on gun safety, the president calls for new legislation, including universal background checks, limits on high-capacity magazines and a ban on assault weapons. this past week, california democratic senator dianne feinstein proposed a ban that would be more restrictive than the one that expired a decade ago. >> this is really an uphill road. if anyone asks today, can you win this? the answer is, we don't know, it's so uphill. >> reporter: the nation's largest gun lobby, the national rifle association, released this statement. the american people know gun bans do not work and we are confident congress will reject senator feinstein's wrong headed approach. the nra was criticized by one of its own members for running this ad, which brought the

president's daughters into the debate. >> are the president's kids more important than yours? >> jim baker, head of the group's federal affairs division, reportedly disagreed with the commercial. the nra telling nbc news, differences of opinion are common to organizations throughout the country. the flap underscores how divisive the issue of gun control continues to be. political analysts say the president doesn't have a lot of time to get congress on board. >> he won't spend a whole year doing it. at some point you have to have votes. it can't be like health care where it sort of drains resources. >> reporter: alex, some smaller rallies in other cities like boston and san francisco. now, white house officials say on tuesday, president obama will travel to las vegas and talk about another big goal for his being second term. immigration reform. analysts say the clock ticking for him to get something done on that issue as well. >> okay. thank you, kristin.

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they say, you're much bigger than this. and you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. let's go now to our three big money headlines, soaring home sales, change at the top and early kickoff. we have recommendatiogina lewis. thank you for joining us. >> thanks. >> first annual gain in new home sales since 2005. >> biggest gain since 2005, and existing home sales, biggest gain since 2007. people buying new construction leading and it's interesting. so hard to get a mortgage, alex. when buy an existing home, you really better like everything, mote most people are saying we have used all our cash to get the mortgage. nothing left to make improvements on the home. that's why people are opting for

new homes instead. spring listing season is critical to see if trend lines stick. >> the existing home sales rupp. >> yep. >> the most since 2007. >> what about the corporate news this week? apple loses a prestigious spot to exon. >> apple, a 12-month reign. the culprit? i found five. sales just not what was expected. because turns out the iphone 4 is pretty darn good. if you look at verizon, announcing all activations when they turn the phone on, only half of them are for the latest iphone model, meaning the iphone 5, a lot of iphone 4s in the system, and when the iphone 5 costs hundreds of dollars, but you can get an iphone 4, for 40, 50, maybe even 99 cents, people

opted for that. people like the product they already have, and the phone carriers, that's the t-mobiles, at&ts and verizons, won't subsidize the cost of phones in a mature category. >> a 99 cent iphone 4 that's not bad. >> wouldn't you take that? >> of course. and get some to spare. and netflix, they were doing so badly and doing a turn around? >> that speaks to the power of the brand in a growing category, streaming video the whole stock got blown up when they got a pricing debacle. charging you one thing to mailing the famous red envelopes, another for streaming video if you signed up and your kids have the code, and they have tablets on their laps they are watching streaming video. netflix has rallied back on that trend. >> okay. time to take a peek at the super bowl ads. commercials from volkswagen and

a sports drink. here we go. ♪ make you happy we'll make you happy ♪ >> all right, price more manager. ♪ we'll make you happy . >> on the biggest sports night of the year, with countless millions watching, neofit will be introduced by a new spokesperson. >> hey, can you say [ bleep ] on tv? >> that was good. why do companies release some of these ads or portions of them before the game? >> they are the ads for the ads. the first one in particular is to create a viral affect, the come on, be happy ad are people who had throughout the year blown up on youtube. they are infamously famous and now they are happy. that would get a lot of likes on facebook and sharing on twitter. and not only does that give you a whole extra set of eyeballs,

when the ad actually airs, people say i want to see this one, because you have teased it. the second one from kraft. it is launching, and this is a big bet. a new sports drink that you mix. like gatorade or powerade, but you mix it. and they are relying on tracy morgan to give them a moment of time. in this minute's one-minute play back, bill maher with a new rule. >> the media must give president obama a few more days before they start covering the 2016 presidential race. yikes! already speculating about biden and hillary. come on, even taylor swift gives a guy a little more time than that. and why is she america's sweetheart?

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2 minutes aft 32 minutes af. some are coming out against the republican plan to redraw electoral maps. the gop scrambles to rebrand itself in the hope of drawing new voters. joining me now political analyst mark murray. good morning, mark. >> good morning, alex. >> explain how the plan would work. >> most electoral votes across the country are apportioned by a win evener take all basis. for example, if a candidate wins the election in virginia, they get all the electoral votes. this was being considered in states like virginia, michigan, pennsylvania, the electoral votes would be apportioned by congressional district. and just to show you how much

things would end up changing, due to all the gerrymandering with the concentration of a lot of democratic votes in urban areas to a handful of congressional districts, mitt romney would have had more electoral votes in the state of virginia, nine to barack obama's four, even though barack obama won the state by four percentage points. and 150,000 overall votes. >> that's the state of virginia and overall, you look at the numbers, romney would have gotten 273, obama, 262, if it had gone that way nationwide. that's an extraordinary change. but the question, this constitutional? >> it is. states are allowed to decide how their electoral votes are divvied up. two states already do this by congressional district. nebraska and maine. never been a problem, mainly because maine has been seen as a blue state. nebraska, a red state and they have few electoral votes.

what created controversy here, the states that are potentially considering this, like virginia, like michigan, like pennsylvania. these are traditionally battleground states that could end up having an impact on the presidential election future contest if they are adopted. >> first, who is supporting this? >> these are republican state lawmakers across the country doing this. and one of the arguments in favor of this, they believe this would give rural community, rural skroeters, more of a say in elections, the counterargument, that is taking the votes away from a lot of urban voters, democratic voters and people believe this is a way to have the republican party have a significant advantage in future presidential contests. by the example of virginia that i mentioned or the nationwide thing, republicans, due to the fact that they control much of the redistricting after 2012, would have a big, big advantage.

>> if governor mcdonnell is coming out against it, it kills it for that state effectively. what about everywhere else? >> yesterday, due to a lot of publicity about this type of legislation that virginia is considering, and supposed to be considered as early as this coming week it seems virginia will not be enacting this. the question is, whatens up happening to other states across the country, like pennsylvania, like michigan? a state like wisconsin pursue this? that's a state we'll be following? >> okay. so we'll be following you for that and a lot of other things. mark murray, thank you. >> thanks. i talk with the host of "hardball" chris matthews. i sat down with chris while covering the inauguration earlier this week in d.c. and we begin with his thoughts on president obama's inaugural address. >> i think that the president has certain things he wants to get done and certain values that contribute to that, but i don't

think it's meant to be a comprehensive speech, but i think he wrote it himself, a lot of it. and i think he put it on a legal pa. i thought important the part about foreign policy. we've had situations in the past where we had wars with countries and then ended up being their friends. why don't we start being friends. to me, it was all about iran. there is only other country we're thinking about going to war, with it's iran. why fighting the people of iran? why kill a bunch of people iran because we don't like their nuclear program? he wants to avoid that. robin wright says if we don't take advantage of the weapon between now and when they weaponize, we will never have peace with iran it will be endless war with that enormously important country which could shake every part of our world. >> the favorite line? >> the courage to resolve differences with other nations peacefully, not because we are

naive about the dangers we face, because engagement can more endurably lift fear. peace has durability. if you go to war, you go to war again. iraq one leads to iraq two. you keep going back and back and back. get caught in the quick sand. and he says i'm not going too do. been to afghanistan and iraq twice, we're not going back. >> how does his speech get remembered in history? >> the way it's being played right now by drum beaters a liberal speech. >> did you have a favorite moment? >> watching the first family. i loved it. i watched maybe an hour of watching them in the reviewing stand, and i kept thinking, my god, these are attractive, better off obviously, elite in a sense people and yet like any family at a wedding, a funeral,

any kind of formal event, just sort of antsy. and i love the look back at the west front. stopped. not part of the ritual. just says this is something that i have -- maybe it's not all about me. but here is something i had a lot to do with, this at the no, ma'am nobody of all the-- pheno these people being here and he wanted to look back and see it. so much history to that spot. i said this yesterday, nixon came back after losing the kennedy election in '60 and in '81 after the guy who beated him was inaugurated, he was there. had the car -- use the car at 5:00 or whatever that night and had the driver before he gave up the driver, looked down over the mall and looked down and said i'll be back. >> more of our conversation at

12:00 noon when we talk about the 2016 potential democratic matchup that has everyone talking this week. joe versus hillary for president. eshgs including the government for suing women from combat. a helicopter pilot shot down over afghanistan, what she thinks about the policy change. uhh, it's next month, actually... eddie continues singing: to tickets to... paradiiiiiise! no four. remember? whoooa whooaa whooo! you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? happier than eddie money running a travel agency. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. to the best vacation sp(all) the gulf! it doesn't matter which of our great states folks visit. mississippi, alabama, louisiana or florida, they're gonna love it. shaul, your alabama hospitality is incredible.

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>> in life, as we all know, there are no guarantees of success. not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. but everyone is entitled to a chance. >> and when you heard that, what did you think? >> that he completely understands where where we're coming from. that's what we're asking for. nobody is asking for fwaurn tgu positions many we're asked for the opportunity to compete, based on skill rather than gender. >> you are one of the women that brought the lawsuit. was it evident when you brought the case that the pentagon would change its stance? >> you know, alex, i have to be honest, i've been hoping all along and saying candidly, i thought leon panetta was the secretary of defense that would lift this ban.

i felt like given his history this was something he would understand. the fact that it came as a suggestion unanimously from the joint chiefs makes it very validating for me. being in the military, so it's not -- the people who don't want things dictated to the military, they can't say that now, because the joint chiefs do what's in the military's best interest and recognize the policy is damaging. >> the lawsuit how does it stand now? is it dropped? >> i can't really speak to the legal, technical aspects. from what i understand, the lawsuit continues until we see something in writing that satisfies all the stipulations of the lawsuit. but this is what we were hoping for. >> what about the op-ed arguing that both men and women would feel humiliated in front of each other due to sanitary issues of infantry combat, having to shower in the open, lots of

nudity there. what did you think about that? >> you know, i have to be honest, it kind of made me chuckle and makes me happy that the opposition's arguments have come down to this. we have successfully combatted everything else they have thrown at us. this is absolutely not an issue. i've been forward deployed with delta force for months at a time. a ten-hour mission on a helicopter where both pilots have to pee next to each other to be blunt. you allow us to train together so we see each other as peers and not as a new person coming into my unit and then you look at her as a female. once we're viewed as equals, this won't be an issue, and honestly if i'm in a marine and in the front lines and that's my concern, then maybe i should be thinking about a different career. >> look at this. 152 people killed in iraq and afghanistan. you were injured seriously while

piloting a helicopter and going in to make sure you left no one behind and you got to the people who had been injured you were trying to rescue. i mean, have women been in de facto combat roles even before this policy change? >> that's exactly the heart of the issue. everybody wanted to make the debate about whether or not women should be in combat. the actual issue is that women are in combat. engaging the enemy, acting with valor, serving and just not being recognized. and i don't mean recognized with awards, i mean recognized with the correct job title that will get them promoted and recognized by getting the same training opportunities and that type of thing. so it's more about equal treatment and not about, you know, let's allow women into combat now. >> m.j., quickly, something so disturbing. the reports of sexual assault in the military. we'll have numbers thrown up about the increase at military academies this past year.

why is this problem so privil e prevalent? >> i'm not an expert. but from the studies i've looked at, most people would probably agree. sexual assault is not about sexual gratification and not about opportunity. when it doesn't happen, it's not because there doesn't happen to be a woman around. if you are a predator and you want to commit that heinous act, you will find a way to do that. the way you fix it, you stop allow people to view other people as inferior and as objects and something that's appropriate for. that's a discipline and leadership issue and an issue not to be solved by punishing the potential victims by hampering their careers. >> m.j., major hagar, absolutely a pleasure to talk with you. one of our nation's heroes. >> my pleasure, alex. straight ahead, benjamin netanyahu's close call in this week's election. what does it mean for the u.s./israel relationship?

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we will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully. not because we are naive about the dangers we face but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. >> that's president obama giving his inaugural address, giving a glimpse to iran and its nuclear ambitions. this came in the same week hard line benjamin netanyahu suffered a setback in elections but a new interview with israel prime minister. dennis ross, senior director of the national security council and special adviser to secretary clinton on iran. dennis w a big welcome to you, sir, what was your takeaway from the president's line we played from the inaugural address, what does it signal to you? >> i think there's been a continuity in the president's attitude, certainly in his

approach to foreign policy. you'll recall from the beginning of administration, the word engagement was, in fact, a guidepost for how we were going to try to deal with adversaries as well as in terms of how you try to deal with resolving conflict. so, i think engagement as such is not new. there's als been a premise to that engagement. it's engagement without illusion. the president has looked at iran as a country that is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability and he's made it clear his objective is to prevent that, not to live with it. his preferred approach is to resolve it through peaceful means, resolve it by engaging with iranians, getting ourselves and others to engage, but to get the iranians to change their objective. the end result may be preferably achieved through diplomacy but the implication is if diplomacy does not work, force may be

likely. >> you listen to what the president said in terms of interpretation from israel, couple with what ma hud barack was saying, if that kind of back-channelling doesn't work. are we at odds with israel? >> you know, i would -- the way to try to create perspective, we share objective of prevention, also share perspective of achieving it through peaceful means. the israelis become more skeptical that ultimately that will be achieved through peaceful means, therefore, they are more open about the use of force as a result. we are a little bit less explicit, but when the president says all options are on the table, that is also designed to send a message. there's a potential potentially

when it comes to timing. israe israeli's facing an exten shall threat from iran. it's more a case of timing than it is objective. >> adding to the timing consideration, dennis, look at netanyahu's election setback. does that put things further away from military intervention by israel or the u.s. against iran or does it move it closer? >> well, i don't think it moves it closer. what i think it does, if you look at the israeli attitudes on this, the public attitudes on this have been very clear. basically, almost no one in israel thinks israel can live with an iran that has that capability but there's a very strong presumption that if israel were to act, it should do it either in concert with the united states or certainly not in opposition to the united states. and i think that's where you may have something that creates a

little bit more time and space for the united states to try to work things out diplomatically. >> how about the personal relationship between the president and benjamin netanyahu, where does that stand these days? >> i've always felt the portrayal of this tend to be somewhat exaggerated. i think they have a correct relationship. i think it's -- when i say correct, they can work together, they understand the need of working together president the fact is, when you look at iran, there's a shared strategic objective. when you look at the arab awaking, there's a shared strategic objective. i would say even on the palestinians. both we and the israelis understand it's much preferable to have a palestinian identity that is nationalist and not islamist. it's preferable to preserve palestinian authority and not have it collapse. there may be tactical differences in how you chooef that but strategically there's a basic convergence.

the question is, can you assure that's always pursued taktticly. >> thank you. that's a wrap. be sure to watch the show today at noon eastern. i'll till i'm off for the rest of the weekend. "up with chris hayes" is up next. it's not for colds. it's not for pain. it's just for sleep. because sleep is a beautiful thing™. ♪ zzzquil™. the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil®. more "likes." more tweets. so, beginning today, my son brock and his whole team will be our new senior social media strategists. any questions? since we make radiator valves wouldn't it be better if we just let fedex help us to expand to new markets? hmm gotta admit that's better than a few "likes." i don't have the door code. who's that? he won a contest online to be ceo for the day. how am i supposed to run a business here

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